Let Them Eat Cake
by Random Guise
Summary: Willy Wonka is interviewed before the opening of his fruitcake business. Part of my Willy series. I don't own these characters, but I have read a newspaper before.


**A/N: I wanted to try a story that was in an interview format, so this seemed like a good candidate.**

* * *

Let Them Eat Cake

 _Every month, the_ Times _business section has a special look at one of today's young entrepreneurs. This month focuses on Willy Wonka, who is just about to open his fruitcake production facility. I interviewed Mr. Wonka, a very unique 19-year old, for this month's article. While he seemed somewhat aloof at first, he was cordial enough and an extremely interesting person to interview._

Norman Rightbedder: Mr. Wonka, may I call you Willy to start?

Willy Wonka: You can call me that not just to start, but all the way to the end too.

NR: Yes, of course. Willy, you are certainly one of the younger businessmen this reporter has ever interviewed. Is this your first foray into business?

WW: Oh no. I've been building up to this, you might say. I actually started my first business when I was, oh, twelve I suppose.

NR: Twelve? I take it you weren't in the fruitcake business at that point.

WW: (laughs) No, the notion hadn't even occurred to me yet. I actually started out hauling, junk and refuse or whatever the customer needed to move, in a hand-pulled wagon. I got together with two other friends and we started the "Mover's Deluxe" company. We eventually grew to several wagons and even had a horse cart for the bigger items.

NR: Yes, that business still exists today; I believe they even use trucks now. I'm sure our readers will be thrilled at your drive and work ethic, but it's kind of a big jump from junk to fruitcake. How did that happen?

WW: Well, as I said I started out in moving. We lived in a very low income neighborhood, so we had to scratch and scrimp wherever we could to make money. We expanded our territory to nearby neighborhoods, and one day my partner Bob Wilkinson managed to get a contract from a nice grocer by the name of Buntley in a well-to-do area to haul away his leftovers and less desirable items like blemished vegetables. After a few days I started taking a good look at the items he was throwing away, and it seemed such a waste. Some days we'd have a cart full of cabbages, beets, carrots, apples and the like that were just a little too soft, or had grown in an odd shape, or were just a little too large or small for his customers. _Parfois les gens sont trop pointilleux, oui?_

NR: I suppose people can be a bit too picky, I've never thought about it. _Donc vous pensiez faire quelque chose avec ça?_

WW: Sorry, in English please. I learned to speak a couple languages this year, but I'm afraid I don't understand them yet.

NR: Uh, okay. So you were thinking of doing something with it?

WW: Naturally. I've designed a few fountains and sculptures from junk with my other partner, Sir Truus; he's a remarkable friend who can build about anything. But the important part is imagining it first. (taps head) Anyway, these produce rejects were a lot better than the few things that could be had in our neighborhood, so I thought it might be nice to make them available to people. I remember how special and rare it was while growing up to get something like an apple at home, and I wanted others to share that. I was already getting paid by Mr. Buntley to take it away, so I didn't feel like I could charge a lot for them. I had Sir redesign one of our existing carts into a portable fruit and vegetable stand and we would set up different places each day to give people a chance; we charged almost nothing even though we cleaned up what we had before selling it, or in some cases sliced away the bruised parts to make it look better and ready to eat. We'd be sold out in no time, and could get on with our other work. We had considered using an old abandoned store front, but Bob is really good with numbers and people and he said it would work out better if we could move our base around to serve more customers.

NR: That explains how you got into foods, but not the fruitcakes.

WW: (laughs again) That was an accident, I must admit; sometimes accidents are a good thing because they give you something you never would have imagined otherwise. Bob had brought back some fruit, oranges and apples that we cut up for sale. But he forgot to put them with the rest of the produce and they sat in the sun for a few days before being found again. They had dried, but were really tasty to eat!

NR: But that's just dried fruit!

WW: Well, yes it is. But we had never seen it before. Anything at home tended to be eaten so quickly it never had a chance to dry. So after that we tried drying a little bit of the fruit to sell; we almost had to give it away at first to get people to try it, but it wasn't long before people would buy that too.

NR: But what about the cakes? Was that the next step?

WW: It was. The dried food was fun at first, and it was good to see people enjoying it. That's what I really liked the most, seeing people enjoy the food we were selling. But it wasn't very creative, and I wanted to do _something_ else different. Then it dawned on me that you could put the fruit in a cake instead of just on top. It was a brilliant idea.

NR: That someone had already thought of.

WW: Of course they had, but I didn't know that at the time; I had never heard of fruitcake before, much less seen one. But with my mother's help we baked quite a few mini cakes and gave them away. They looked really good and smelled wonderful; I mean, cake is good and fruit is good so why not put them together?

NR: Did you actually eat any of them yourself?

WW: I was going to, but I always ended up giving mine away so I never actually ate any of them. But the people seemed happy to get one so I decided that was the next step. We stopped making them so that we could concentrate on cleaning up an old kitchen and turning it into a fruitcake factory. We even got Mr. Buntley's grocery to agree to carry them to sell to people there when we start up next week; he's actually helped us out with some money to get started, so we've made him a minority partner. We'll be just in time for people to give them out for Christmas gifts if they want.

NR: So are you destined to be the king of fruitcakes?

WW: I hope not! I still don't think this is my calling in life, but just a step on the way to something else. We might expand into other baked goods, you never can tell. Now this might fall under 'philosophy' if you want to put a label on it, but I want to make people's lives happier and do something creative at the same time. A very special friend gave me a flute to practice music, but I use this whistle instead of hers (he pulled it out and played something that resembled music) and I'm practicing to get better, but I don't have nearly the musical talent she does so I'll never be a proper musician. I've tried art, but that isn't me either. Besides, not many people can have art in their homes or spend time in a park listening to a concert and I want to do something for _everyone_. But maybe a nice colorful fruitcake on a table can brighten their day just a little bit. Everyone, in their own way, is the maker of music even if they just dream it in their dreams. Imagination should be used, not to escape reality, but to create it.

NR: Speaking of women, is there a Mrs. Wonka?

WW: Yes, my mother.

NR: (waiting) No, I mean do you have someone special in your life?

WW: I've never met a person who _wasn't_ special. I don't mean that everyone is wonderful and a friend, because there are some really bad eggs out there and I've bumped into a few myself already; sometimes I just want to get away from everybody when I meet those types of people. But I see something of myself in every person, and every person has something unique that they show me even if neither of us know it at the time. But if you mean do I have a girlfriend, not really. I haven't met anyone lately that is compatible with how I see the world and what we would do together to make it better. I know for a fact that such people are out there, but I'm so busy right now I don't actually miss having one at the moment; besides, like people say I'm young...although (he bends over to whisper) I'm as old as I've ever been.

NR: So much time, so much you have to do yet.

WW: Still not enough time; I only sleep a couple of hours each night because my mind is always working. I just can't seem to turn the thing off.

NR: A couple of hours of sleep? That's not healthy, you'll go crazy if you keep that up!

WW: (starts fidgeting) Really? When? Hmmm. Tell you what, I'll send you a postcard when I get there. Got to keep your eye on the road, you never know where it's going to turn next! You have to remember, adventure is out there; it might be over the next hill.

NR: Even though we could talk much longer, I'm afraid our time is up but I'd like to thank you so much for your indulgence today, Willy. I wish you all the luck in the world in this and any future endeavors you might have.

WW: Thank you Norman, I wish you the best as well. If you'll excuse me, I'll be off now; so little to do you know. (He dons a top hat that provides an interesting contrast to his purple jacket.) Wait. I mean so _much_ to do, sorry. For some reason my brain always crosses those things up.

 _As the readers can see, Willy Wonka is not your ordinary business executive. I have a feeling that we haven't heard the last of him or his efforts. Please join us next month when we interview Justin and Penelope Hawk before the opening of their floral business Gala Spectrum._

The End

* * *

 **A/N: Okay, this joins up two of my previous stories (see my profile for the order) that take place before the movie. There will be a supplemental story that takes place between the chocolate startup and the movie; I want to hang a hook in there somewhere for a later story that takes place after the movie.  
**


End file.
